U.S. patent application number 12/768238 was filed with the patent office on 2010-09-23 for method and apparatus for establishing usage rights for digital content to be created in the future.
This patent application is currently assigned to ContentGuard Holdings, Inc.. Invention is credited to Guillermo LAO, Aram NAHIDIPOUR, Michael Charles RALEY, Thanh TA, Bijan TADAYON, Edgardo VALENZUELA, Xin WANG.
Application Number | 20100241871 12/768238 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36793546 |
Filed Date | 2010-09-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100241871 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
RALEY; Michael Charles ; et
al. |
September 23, 2010 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTABLISHING USAGE RIGHTS FOR DIGITAL
CONTENT TO BE CREATED IN THE FUTURE
Abstract
Usage rights for a digital work are established prior to
creation of the corresponding content. The rights can be associated
with the content after the content is created. A content creation,
such as a video recorder or a still camera, device can store labels
of the rights and can associate usage rights with content in real
time as the content is created.
Inventors: |
RALEY; Michael Charles;
(Downey, CA) ; VALENZUELA; Edgardo; (South Gate,
CA) ; TADAYON; Bijan; (Potomac, MD) ;
NAHIDIPOUR; Aram; (Laguna Niguel, CA) ; WANG;
Xin; (Torrance, CA) ; LAO; Guillermo;
(Torrance, CA) ; TA; Thanh; (Huntington Beach,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
NIXON PEABODY, LLP
401 9TH STREET, NW, SUITE 900
WASHINGTON
DC
20004-2128
US
|
Assignee: |
ContentGuard Holdings, Inc.
Wilmington
DE
|
Family ID: |
36793546 |
Appl. No.: |
12/768238 |
Filed: |
April 27, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
11052209 |
Feb 8, 2005 |
7725401 |
|
|
12768238 |
|
|
|
|
09867747 |
May 31, 2001 |
6876984 |
|
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11052209 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
713/189 ; 380/44;
726/28 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 21/60 20130101;
G11B 20/0021 20130101; G06Q 50/184 20130101; G06F 21/10 20130101;
G11B 20/00086 20130101; H04L 2463/102 20130101; H04N 21/2541
20130101; G06F 2221/2141 20130101; H04L 2463/101 20130101; H04N
21/8355 20130101; H04N 21/4627 20130101; G06Q 10/10 20130101; H04L
63/10 20130101; G06Q 20/1235 20130101; G07F 17/16 20130101; G11B
20/0071 20130101; H04N 21/83555 20130101; H04L 67/34 20130101; G06F
2221/2153 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
713/189 ; 726/28;
380/44 |
International
Class: |
H04L 9/32 20060101
H04L009/32; G06F 21/24 20060101 G06F021/24 |
Claims
1. A method for creating a digital work having content and usage
rights related to the content, the method comprising: generating a
label having usage rights associated with content of a digital work
before the content is created; generating a license based on the
usage rights of the label before the content is created; issuing
the license to a user before the content is created, the license
granting specific usage rights to the user; wherein the creation of
the content depends on the occurrence of a future event; creating
the content by a content creation device; automatically associating
the label with the content after the content is created by a rights
assignment engine associated with the content creation device; and
securing the content and the label to thereby create the digital
work having the content, whereby the content can be used and
distributed only in accordance with the usage rights of the
label.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the securing step comprises
encrypting and storing the content and the label.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising granting access to the
content in accordance with the usage rights.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the label
further comprises generating usage rights specifying a user's right
to at least one of alter, edit, copy, print, or view the
content.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of creating
at least one of a written, aural, graphical, audio, pictorial or
video based element as the content after the generating step and
before the associating step.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating and
associating a key with the label.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the license includes the key.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the securing step comprises
encrypting the content with the key.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the key is a predetermined secure
key.
10. The method of claim 5, wherein the creating step comprises
recording content with a recording device and wherein the
associating step and the securing step are accomplished by the
recording device.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of generating the label
further comprises creating the label in an external computing
device and downloading the label into the recording device prior to
the associating step.
12. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of generating the label
further comprises creating the label in the recording device prior
to the associating step.
13. A system for creating a digital work having content and usage
rights, the system comprising: a content creation device for
creating a digital content; and a rights assignment engine
associated with the digital content creation device, the rights
assignment engine storing a label having predetermined usage rights
associated with content of a digital work before the content is
created, wherein the rights assignment engine being adapted to
automatically attach the predetermined usage rights to the digital
content and to secure the digital content with the usage rights to
thereby create the digital work, whereby the digital content can be
used and distributed only in accordance with the usage rights; the
system being adapted to: generate a license for the digital content
comprising specific usage rights based on the attached usage
rights, before the digital content is created, by the content
creation device; and issue the license to a user before the digital
content is created by the content creation device, whereby the
license granting the specific usage rights to the user; wherein the
creation of the content depends on the occurrence of a future
event.
14. The system of claim 13, further comprising: an identification
device for identifying user of the content creation device; and,
means for determining the usage rights based on the user.
15. The system of claim 13, further being adapted to generate and
associate a key with the label.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the license includes the
key.
17. The system of claim 15, wherein the content is secured using
the key.
18. The system of claim 13, wherein the content creation device
comprises one of a still-image camera, an audio recorder, or a
video recorder.
19. The system of claim 13, wherein the identification device
comprises a biometrics sensor.
20. The system of claim 13, further comprising a secure storage
medium for the storage of fee and payment information associated
with the usage rights.
21. The system of claim 13, wherein the content creation device
comprises a video recorder.
22. The system of claim 13, wherein the content creation device
comprises a still picture camera.
Description
RELATED APPLICATION DATA
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 11/052,209, filed Feb. 8, 2005, which is a
continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
09/867,747, filed May 31, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,876,984, the
disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their
entireties.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates generally to assignment of usage
rights for digital works. In particular, this invention relates to
establishing usage rights for before the content is created.
Content that has not yet been created can be, for example, a live
event (such as a sports event) that has not yet happened. It can
also be, for example, a movie that has not yet been filmed or a
book that has not yet been written. Moreover, the content in
question could be, for example, a movie created many years ago. In
that example this invention would pertain to the version of that
movie in digital form, prepared and packaged for distribution in a
manner described in this invention. Similarly, a two thousand year
old book prepared as a new digital work can be content to be
created in the future equally as with the case of the book that has
not yet been written. Further, an item of content already in
digital form can be content that has not been created where a new
digital instantiation of the content is created.
[0003] One of the most important issues impeding the widespread
distribution of digital works via electronic means, and the
Internet in particular, is the current lack of protection of
intellectual property rights of content owners during the
distribution and the usage of the digital content. Efforts to
resolve these issues have been termed "Intellectual Property Rights
Management" ("IPRM"), "Digital Property Rights Management"
("DPRM"), "Intellectual Property Management" ("IPM"), "Rights
Management" ("RM"), and "Electronic Copyright Management" ("ECM"),
collectively referred to as "Digital Rights Management" ("DRM")
herein.
[0004] Due to the expansion of the Internet in the recent years,
and the issues relating to privacy, authentication, authorization,
accounting, payment and financial clearing, rights specification,
rights verification, rights enforcement, document protection, and
collection of licensing fees DRM has become even more important.
Because the Internet is such a widely used network whereby many
computer users communicate and trade ideas and information, the
freedom at which electronically published works are reproduced and
distributed is widespread and commonplace.
[0005] Two basic types DRM of schemes have been employed to attempt
to solve the document protection problem: secure containers and
trusted systems. A "secure container" (or simply an encrypted
document) offers a way to keep document contents encrypted until a
set of authorization conditions are met and some copyright terms
are honored (e.g., payment for use). After the various conditions
and terms are verified with the document provider, the document is
released to the user in clear form. Commercial products such as
IBM's CRYPTOLOPES.TM. and InterTrust's DIGIBOXES.TM. fall into this
category. Clearly, the secure container approach provides a
solution to protecting the document during delivery over insecure
channels, but does not provide any mechanism to prevent legitimate
users from obtaining the clear document and then using and
redistributing it in violation of content owners' intellectual
property.
[0006] Cryptographic mechanisms are typically used to encrypt (or
"encipher") documents that are then distributed and stored
publicly, and ultimately privately deciphered by authorized users.
This provides a basic form of protection during document delivery
from a document distributor to an intended user over a public
network, as well as during document storage on an insecure
medium.
[0007] In the "trusted system" approach, the entire system is
responsible for preventing unauthorized use and distribution of the
document. Building a trusted system usually entails introducing new
hardware such as a secure processor, secure storage and secure
rendering devices. This also requires that all software
applications that run on trusted systems be certified to be
trusted. While building tamper-proof trusted systems is a real
challenge to existing technologies, current market trends suggest
that open and untrusted systems such as PC and workstations using
browsers to access the Web, will be the dominant systems used to
access digital works. In this sense, existing computing
environments such as PCs and workstations equipped with popular
operating systems (e.g., Windows.TM., Linux.TM., and UNIX) and
rendering applications such as browsers are not trusted systems and
cannot be made trusted without significantly altering their
architectures. Of course, alteration of the architecture defeats a
primary purpose of the Web, i.e. flexibility and compatibility.
[0008] U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,530,235, 5,634,012, 5,715,403, 5,638,443,
and 5,629,980 introduced many basic concept of DRM. All of these
patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their
entirety. U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,012 discloses a system for
controlling the distribution of digital documents. Each rendering
device has a repository associated therewith. A predetermined set
of usage transaction steps define a protocol used by the
repositories for carrying out usage rights associated with a
document. Usage rights are encapsulated with the content or
otherwise associated with the digital work to travel with the
content. The usage rights can permit various types of use such as,
viewing only, use once, distribution, and the like. Rights can be
granted based on payment or other conditions.
[0009] In conventional DRM techniques, a content owner, or other
authorized party, specifies the rights after the content has been
created and protects, e.g. encrypts, the content at the same time.
A private key is used to encrypt the content, and a label is
generated which specifies the usage rights. The rights label and
the protected content are then associated and stored. A license to
the content can later be generated for a user to permit the user to
use or access the content. The license includes a private key which
has been encrypted using a public key in known manner.
[0010] To access the content, the private key can be used to
decrypt the encrypted public key, allowing the user to decrypt the
content. This technique works well if the content is available at
the time of the rights specification. However, this technique
breaks-down if one wants to specify rights for content and issue a
license for the content before the content is available. For
example, a distributor of streaming video to a live future event,
or of photographs to a future event, may want to begin selling
licenses to the content prior to the event. Conventional DRM
systems fall short of presenting processes for improving the
security, user interface, organization, structure, and accuracy of
the DRM system, particularly for those works that are not yet in
existence.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] An object of the invention is to obviate the problems noted
above in the prior technology and permit usage rights to be
assigned to a work prior to creation of the work.
[0012] A first aspect of the invention is a method for creating a
digital work having content and usage rights related to the
content. The method comprises generating a label associated with
content of a digital work before the content is created,
associating the label with the content and securing the content and
the label.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0013] Various embodiments of this invention will be described in
detail, with reference to the following figures, wherein:
[0014] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for providing usage rights
for digital content before creation of the content in accordance
with the an embodiment of the invention; and
[0015] FIG. 2 is a content creation device for providing usage
rights for digital content to be created in the future in
accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates the relationship between usage rights, a
label and future digital content in accordance with an embodiment
for this invention.
[0017] FIG. 4 is a black diagram of a service which selects
appropriate protected digital content based on the client's
environment in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0018] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for providing usage rights
for digital content to be created in accordance with an embodiment
of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] The phrase "digital work" as used herein refers to any type
of element having content in computed readable form. "Content" as
used herein refers to the viewable or otherwise usable portion of a
digital work. The phrase "usage rights" refers to permissions, in
the form of a manner of use, granted to a user of an existing
digital work or a digital work to be created in the future with
respect to use, access, distribution, and the like of the content
of the work. In addition, usage rights may have one or more
conditions which must be satisfied before the permissions may be
exercised.
[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a method for providing
usage rights for content of a digital work before the content is
created. For each step in this illustration, it is possible that
the content, license, label, keys or other data used may be
encrypted for added security. In step 100 a label specifying usage
rights, to be associated with digital content that is not yet
created, is generated. The usage rights label can include usage
rights, such as the right to print, copy, alter, edit or view the
digital work or any other right, permission, or restriction, such
as those contained in the XrML.TM. language or other usage rights
grammar. Alternatively, the usage rights label may include merely
an identification of the work and other descriptive data and the
specific granted usage rights can be contained in the license
discussed below. In the case of using the XrML.TM. language, the
label can be an extensible markup language (XML) document
specifying the usage rights. In addition, the future content can
have many different versions of usage rights and thus a label can
be generated for each version. In step 110, a key, such as a
conventional public key, is generated in a known manner and
associated with the label.
[0021] In step 120, a user request for use of, i.e. a license to,
the content to be created is received. Keep in mind that the
content itself need not be in existence yet. For example, the
content can be a video recording or stream of a sporting event to
occur in the future. In step 130, a distributor of the content, or
another authorized party, issues a license to the user. The license
can include a private key corresponding to the public key generated
in step 110 and may include usage rights or other descriptive data.
Once, again, keep in mind that the content itself need not be in
existence yet. Accordingly, the distributor is able to sell a
license to view the event prior to the event.
[0022] In step 140, the content is created. Of course, this step
can be accomplished by another party. However the content is
created, the salient point is that the content somehow comes into
existence after rights are assigned for it. The usage rights label
can be encapsulated with or attached to the content whereby copies
of the digital work will also carry the usage rights label.
Alternatively, the label can be stored separately from the content
but be associated through flags, calls, or the like. Therefore, the
term "associated" as used herein refers broadly to creating a
correspondence between the content and the label so the label will
be applied to the content. Once the usage rights label is
associated with the content, the content can be secured using the
key generated in step 110. The digital content can be secured
through any form of encryption or other known technique. For
example pretty good privacy (PGP) encryption procedures can be
used.
[0023] In step 160, the process determines whether there is a
request for access to the secured digital content. If there are no
requests, the process waits for a request. However, if there is a
request for access, the process proceeds to step 170 where the
usage rights associated with the digital work and/or license are
checked to determine whether all the conditions, such as payment,
associated with the usage rights have been satisfied. If all the
conditions have been satisfied, the process proceeds to step 180 in
which access to the content is granted, i.e., the content is
downloaded, streamed, or otherwise transferred to the user. In step
190, the user's private key is used to decrypt the content in a
known manner.
[0024] The association of the usage rights with the content may
occur in a variety of ways. For example, if the usage rights will
be the same for the entire content of a digital work, the usage
rights can be attached when the digital work is processed for
deposit in a distribution server of other device. However, if the
content of the digital work has a variety of different usage rights
for various components, the usage rights can be attached as the
work is being created. Various authoring tools and/or digital work
assembling tools can be utilized for providing an automated process
of attaching the usage rights. Because each part of a digital work
can have its own usage rights, there can be instances where the
usage rights of a "part" will be different from its parent. As
such, conflict rules can be established to dictate when and how a
right may be exercised.
[0025] FIG. 2 illustrates a content creation device, a video
recorder, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the
invention. The content creation device 300 includes a controller
302, a LCD display 304, a smart-card reader 306, a memory 307, a
keypad 308, a rights assignment engine 310, eye/iris recognition
sensors 312, a cable connection 313, a handle 314, and symmetric
finger print recognition sensors 316,318. Also, lens system 320
permits recording of video images. Controller 302 and rights
assignment engine 310 of the preferred embodiment are accomplished
through a microprocessor based device programmed in a desired
manner.
[0026] While FIG. 2 shows the controller 302 and the rights
assignment engine 310 as separate units, the functions performed by
these units may be combined in one processor or may be further
divided among plural processors such as digital signal processors
and/or performed by dedicated hardware such as application specific
integrated circuits (ASIC), e.g., hard-wired electronic or logic
circuits or programmable logic devices., or other hardware or
software implementations.
[0027] The smart-card reader 306 can be used for reading cards
inserted therein. For example, a license, usage rights, or
identification can be embedded in the card and communicated to the
controller 302 and/or the rights assignment engine 310. LCD display
304, the smart card reader 306, keypad 308 and software interfaces
constitute a user interface of creation server 300. The user
interface permits a user to input information such as
identification data, and access requests and provides feedback as
to operation of creation device 300. The content creation device
300 of the preferred embodiment is a video recorder; however, it
can be any type of recording device, for example, a still-image
camera, an animation generator, or an audio recorder.
[0028] The rights assignment engine 310 can be accessed via the
cable connection 313. For example, a rights assignment computer
(not illustrated), such as any computer running XrML.TM. and
related tools, can be coupled to the rights assignment engine 310
via cable connection 313 to download a usage rights label or
template, similar to the label described above, indicating usage
rights for content to be created by the content creation device 300
in the future. Any content created by the content creation device
300 will automatically be associated with the usage rights label or
labels stored in rights assignment engine 310. Alternatively, the
usage rights label can be composed using the user interface of
creation device 300. In either case, one or more labels are and
corresponding keys generated and stored in rights assignment engine
310 along with instructions indicating how the labels are to be
assigned to content recorded by creation device. 300.
[0029] The instructions can cause the usage rights labels to be
assigned in any manner and can include any permissions and/or
restrictions. For example, in the case of a video recorder, each
part of the video sequence or frames can selectively be assigned
different rights. This makes the rights assignment process very
flexible and dynamic and permits rights assignment to be made in
real time as content is created or prior to creation.
[0030] The content creation device 300 can utilize a unique device
ID, a user's smart card, encryption (e.g. PKI) technology, a PIN,
or any biometrics system to assign rights based on the identity of
the user, the recording device itself, the data on the smart card,
or the like. For example, fingerprint recognition sensors 316, 318
or iris recognition sensor 312 can be used for recognition or
authentication of the user's identify to permit rights assignment
engine 310 to use a corresponding set of rights associated with the
user. For example, all content recorded by person A will have one
set of rights and all content recorded by person B will have a
different set of rights.
[0031] The content creation device 300 records content in a
conventional manner. However, labels and keys generated in steps
100 and 110 described above are stored and associated with content
recorded by content recorder 300 during or soon after recording.
Accordingly, steps 140 and 150 described above are also
accomplished by content creation device 300. For security purposes,
a token or pre-paid card (or magnetic card and smart card, or any
of its variations, such as memory-type or synchronous communication
card, ISO 7816-compliant card, EMV-type card) can be used for the
storage of fees and micro-payments, or keeping track of those fees
with associated rights. Such cards can be read using the smart card
reader 306.
[0032] It can be seen that the invention permits usage rights for a
work to be created and associated with content prior to the
creation of the content. The usage rights define how the future
digital work may be used and distributed. These pre-established
usage rights become apart of the future digital work and controls
the usage and distribution of the content of such work.
[0033] In the preferred embodiment, after the rights have been
established for a future content, a private key associated with the
future content is assigned and a rights label is generated. This
private key, along with the rights label, is stored. A user can
purchase the content (present or future) after the label has been
inserted into the main server or other devices. After the content
is purchased, the content owner can get a license for encryption
which contains the public key encrypted by a private key.
Alternatively, a single symmetric key can be used.
[0034] The label represented by step 100 in FIG. 1 may serve as a
reference to another work. The label in this case would serve as a
placeholder for future content. The label may be an empty file or
contain computer interpretable or human interpretable data that may
be used to later associate it with the future digital content. When
it is created the label may include usage right information but it
does not need to. The usage rights information can be supplied
later. When the usage rights are generated, as represented by step
130 in FIG. 1, the content referred to by the usage rights would be
the label, and need not be the actual digital content. The label
could then be referenced to determine which digital content the
user is requesting access to. The means of associating the label
with the actual content may be done in a variety of ways including
the use of human-interpretable text, numeric references, pointers,
markup languages such as HTML and XML, programmable scripts or even
SQL queries.
[0035] FIG. 3 illustrates this embodiment. In FIG. 3, license 220
containing usage rights is issued to a user. Since digital content
260 for the license does not yet exist, label 240 is created to act
as a placeholder for the future content. The label would contain or
imply a relationship between itself and digital content to be
created in the future. This relationship may be implied such as
naming the label using a product ID or other reference that can
later be associated with the digital content, or it may be an
actual reference such as human-interpretable text containing the
name of the future content or content within the label that can
later be used to derive the actual digital content. The label to
which the license is bound is used in the appropriate manner to
determine the actual digital content with which the label is
associated. The rights and any conditions specified in the usage
rights would apply to the actual content, not the label that it
represents. The steps discussed above do not necessarily have to be
performed in the order shown in the figure. For example, the label
can be created before or after the license and before or after the
content.
[0036] Usage rights associated with the future digital content may
be specified within a license, the label or even the content
itself. These usage rights apply to the digital content pointed to
by the label, regardless of where they are stored and the method
used for storage.
[0037] FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a method for providing
usage rights for content of a digital work that is created
dynamically at the time the user requests it. The steps illustrated
in FIG. 5 do not necessarily have to be performed in the order
shown in the figure. For example the label can be created before or
after the license and before or after the content. In step 500 a
label representing digital content that is not yet created, is
generated. The label can include usage rights, such as the right to
print, copy, alter, edit or view the digital work or any other
right, permission, condition or restriction, such as those
contained in the ISO MPEG REL, XrML, ODRL, the Open Mobile Alliance
REL or any other usage rights grammar. Alternatively, the usage
rights label may include merely an identification of the work and
other descriptive data and the specific granted usage rights can be
contained in the license discussed below. In the case of using the
ISO MPEG REL for example, the label can be an extensible markup
language (XML) document specifying the usage rights. In addition,
the future content can have many different versions of usage rights
and thus a label can be generated for each version. In step 510,
the label may be protected by using known encryption
techniques.
[0038] In step 520, a distributor of the content, or another
authorized party, makes available a license to a user. The license
can be protected using a private key such as the one corresponding
to the public key generated in step 110 and may include usage
rights or other descriptive data. Once, again, keep in mind that
the content itself need not be in existence yet. Accordingly, for
example, a distributor is able to offer a license to view an event
prior to the event occurring.
[0039] In step 530, a user obtains a license to (i.e. receives the
right to use) the content to be created. The user may request the
license or may receive the license without requesting it. Keep in
mind that the content itself need not be in existence yet. For
example, the content can be a video recording or stream of a
sporting event to occur in the future.
[0040] In step 540, the content is created. Of course, this step
can be accomplished by another party. However the content is
created, the salient point is that the content somehow comes into
existence after rights are assigned for it. In this embodiment, the
content is created in response to the request for content performed
previously in step 530. After the content is created, the label is
associated with the content in step 550. The label can be
encapsulated with or attached to the content whereby copies of the
digital work will also carry the label. Alternatively, the label
can be stored separately from the content but be associated through
flags, calls, or the like. Therefore, the term "associated" as used
herein refers broadly to creating a correspondence between the
content and the label so the label will be applied to represent the
content. Once the usage rights label is associated with the
content, the content may or may not be secured using the key
generated in step 510. The digital content can be secured through
any form of encryption or other known technique. For example pretty
good privacy (PGP) encryption procedures can be used.
[0041] In step 560 the usage rights associated with the digital
work and/or license are checked to determine whether the use of the
digital work is permitted by the usage rights and if there are
conditions to the use, all the conditions, such as payment,
associated with the usage rights whether the conditions have been
satisfied. If the use attempted by the user is permitted and all
the conditions, if any, have been satisfied, the process proceeds
to step 570 in which access to the content is granted (e.g., the
content is downloaded, streamed, or otherwise transferred to the
user or the user is permitted to render the content or otherwise
use the content in the permitted manner). In step 580, if the
content was encrypted the user's private key is used to decrypt the
content in a known manner.
[0042] The invention can be used in a subscription model (for
example, for magazine or marketing reports) in which the future
issues of the content have not been published, but the rights for
those issues have already been assigned and stored. At an
appropriate future time, the rights will be associated with the
corresponding content. For example, by selling the content of a
future event on a web site before the actual event, the traffic of
the Web site can be drastically reduced and distributed over a
longer period of time, making the requirements for the servers and
the Web site easier to satisfy and less expensive to operate. Note,
however, that the Web site selling the rights or tickets, i.e. the
license, might be different from the Web site providing the content
later on.
[0043] The invention may also be used in a flexible subscription
model such as identifying multiple issues of a periodical. In this
case, the label might contain human-readable text such as "Issues
34-56 of Newsweek Online" with the usage rights to the content
specified in a separate license. The label in this case could
represent multiple digital works with a single label.
[0044] Another possible use for this invention is the area of
services. Some services take an instruction and then generate
content as a return value. For example; a user may send a request
to a service which contains some information about their operating
system, platform or environment. The service could utilize this
information to generate or select content appropriate to the user
from plural instances of content and return both the content and
usage rights that would allow the user to utilize the content. In
other words, the service could generate protected digital content
customized to a user service 400 receivers environment, such as the
user's identity preferences, or computer system.
[0045] FIG. 4 illustrates this embodiment. Client request 402,
consisting of a set of usage rights, along with information about
the client environment. The request or usage rights are bound to
label which exists within the service. When the service receives
the request, it references the indicated label, combined with the
client environment information to determine which content, Windows
content 406 or Linux content 407 for example, is best suited to the
user. As in previous embodiments, the usage rights and label were
created prior to the existence of the digital content. Simply put,
this embodiment allows the pre-sale and licensing of protected
digital content.
[0046] This invention may even be used to help manage limited
distribution where digital content is regulated or limited in some
fashion. Imagine a content creator that wishes to restrict the
number of copies a particular distributor is capable to selling.
Such a business model might be created by placing a unique
identifier on each copy of the digital content the creator gives to
the distributor. This identifier might be a unique serial number or
simply a date & time stamp. The distributor is given only the
number of individualized copies of the digital content that they
are authorized to sell each month. Once the quantity has been
distributed, rather than turning away customers, the distributor
might choose to use a label to represent the content they will
receive the following month. This would allow them to better serve
their customers, continue distribution of the content while at the
same time honoring the content creator's desires by only
distributing a limited amount each month.
[0047] Also, the invention allows a newspaper editor, for example,
to send a camera crew to record content without worrying about the
pictures being compromised in any way (for example, altered,
edited, viewed by unauthorized personnel, or hidden and separately
sold to another newspaper organization). In fact, the camera crew
may have no rights whatsoever in the content as soon as the content
is recorded.
[0048] Alternatively the editor can set the rights in such a way
that the first 10 pictures, for example, will belong to the
newspaper (work-related), and the next five pictures will belong to
the cameraman (for personal use). This example illustrates the
flexibility, security, confidence, certainty, and multiple
relationships that can be arranged between parties (the cameraman
and the editor in this example).
[0049] All future content may be assigned a content ID prior to
existence of the content. Given the content ID information and the
license for encryption, the content can be encrypted after creation
in a manner that is available to be used by the users who have
purchased the license. However, if the content ID information and
the license for encryption are not available, access to the content
shall be denied.
[0050] Further, a predetermined symmetric key can be generated in
advance of content creation, and stored with the rights label.
Afterwards, the same key can be used to encrypt the content once it
is created. However, as noted above every user can receive a
different key. In another alternative, the user can be given an
authorization token, which the user can exchange for the license
later on.
[0051] The controller 302 can process the security parameters and
the rights management steps. Lost-card verification, lost-card
reports, card-usage reports, security alert reports, and tracking
reports can be associated or combined with the rights management
reports, such as reports for revoked rights, denied rights, renewed
rights, usage patterns, and micro-payments.
[0052] In the preferred embodiments, the label is a placeholder.
the label need not have to have specific content or usage rights.
The label can be a placeholder for both usage rights and content.
Or for just one of these two. For example, the label can be a file
with a pointer (or empty data portion) for three things: content,
usage rights and an association means. The association means can be
supplied first. The other two pieces of information can be supplied
subsequently in any order. Conventionally, content is created first
and then rights are associated with the content. With the
invention, an association of content to rights can be created
before the content is even created.
[0053] The invention may be readily implemented in software using
object or object-oriented software development environment that
provides portable source code that can be used on a variety of
computer hardware platforms. For example the software can be
written in the JAVA.TM. language and run in a JAVA.TM. virtual
machine. Alternatively, the disclosed operations may be implemented
partially or fully in a hardware using standard logic circuits or
VLSI designs. The hardware can include any type of general purpose
computer, dedicated computer, or other devices.
[0054] The distribution, accounting, and other functions of the
distributor and clearinghouse can be accomplished by any party on
any device. For example, the content can be rendered on an eBook
reader or PDA in response to entry of a code or insertion of a
smartcard into a reader and accounting can be accomplished when the
digital work or accounting data is returned to a specific source.
The division of tasks disclosed herein is only an example. Usage
rights and or accounting data can be encapsulated with the digital
work or can be stored separately. Code for rendering, decrypting,
or otherwise permitting or limiting use of the content can be
stored on any device or can be encapsulated with the digital work.
Any distribution arrangement can be used with the invention and
such arrangements can include any combination of devices, such as
personal computers, servers, PDAs, and the like communicating with
one another in any manner as is necessary to transfer the desired
information.
[0055] The invention has been described in connection with the
above embodiments. However, it should be appreciated that many
alternates, modifications and variations may be made to the
embodiments of the invention without departing from the scope of
the invention as defined by the appended claims and legal
equivalents.
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